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Colorado - Mon. 08/10/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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NEW CONTROLS ON SPORTS GAMBLING DEPOSITS GO INTO EFFECT AUG. 12
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Last year, gamblers in Colorado bet $6.4 billion on sports, which was a record for the amount of money wagered since sportsbooks opened in the state in May 2020. The Colorado Legislature passed Senate Bill 26-131 in May, which is designed to put guardrails up to slow bettors by no longer allowing credit cards to be used to make deposits on sports betting apps. Also, deposits will be limited to six per day. The new legislation goes into effect Wednesday, Aug. 12. The deposit limits are counted on a rolling 24-hour basis. There are thirteen online sportsbooks licensed to operate in Colorado and five had already stopped accepting credit cards in the past year.
The new law also prohibits sports betting companies from targeting Coloradans who are younger than 21 and bans advertising when the majority of an audience is reasonably expected to be younger than 21. The law will also require sports betting operators to report annual transactional data and metrics to the Colorado Division of Gaming, starting Feb. 1, 2028, and a public report based on that data will be released every three years, beginning on Jan. 1, 2029.
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SCHOOL OF MINES SECURES $32 MILLION GRANT FOR CRITICAL MINERALS TECH HUB
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President Trump on Friday announced more than $180 million in grants to boost educational and trade programs for the mining industry, part of a bid to increase critical mineral production. A delegation from the Colorado School of Mines traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Administration’s announcement as the School of Mines was announced as a recipient of $32.7 million in funding in support of the school's Critical Minerals Innovation and Commercialization Hub. The Critical Minerals Innovation and Commercialization Hub will be housed at a newly acquired 50,000-square-foot facility in Golden, Colorado. The hub will bring together government, industry, entrepreneurs, researchers and students to test and scale new technologies for mineral processing, recovery, refining, recycling and advanced materials, and ultimately move those technologies into the domestic supply chain.
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LUXURY CONDOS THE ONLY “HOT” MARKET IN DENVER THIS SUMMER
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It may be hot and dry this summer, but the Denver home markets have definitely cooled. According to the latest monthly Market Trends Report issued by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors, the median price of a home in the 11-county metro area dropped last month by 1.54 percent, to $605,000. It is the first time that across-the-board home prices have dropped since early spring. The price still stands almost 3 percent higher than the median price in the area in 2025. The price for townhomes, duplexes, and condominiums has been in a slide, with the median price of $380,000 in July, down from $390,000, and 2.65 percent from the price in June 2025.
One significant exception is high-end condominiums. Sales of attached homes in the million-dollar-plus range actually jumped during July, according to agent Michelle Schwinghammer with West & Main Homes. Closings on those high-end condominiums jumped 26 percent over the month and are up 81 percent year-over-year. There were 29 high-end condo sales in July, up from the 23 sold in June and the 16 in July 2025.
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SOME CLEANUP STILL WILL AFFECT MOTORISTS ON WEST SLOPE ROADS
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The continues maintenance operations to remove debris and clean drainages at several slide paths and creek crossings on two West Slope highways: US 550 Ouray to Ridgway and CO 145 Telluride to Norwood.
- US 550 Ouray to Ridgway: Beginning Monday, Aug. 10 crews will perform week-long operations to remove remaining burn scar debris from underneath the Cutler Creek bridge structure (Mile Point 98), approximately four miles north of Ouray. Daytime work hours range from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Motorists should plan for 15-to-20-minute delays and should allow for extra travel time. Expect full stops and alternating traffic guided by flagging personnel.
- CO 145 Telluride to Norwood: Operations to clear rockfall and mud debris from the shoulder of CO 145 between Norwood and Placerville (MP 87 to 90) are expected to continue through late August. Monday through Thursday daytime work hours range from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Motorists should plan for 15-to-30-minute delays and should allow for extra travel time. Expect full stops and alternating traffic guided by flagging personnel.
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FORT LEWIS COLLEGE RECEIVES $1.25 MILLION GRANT TO EXPAND ACCESS
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Across Colorado, dire drought conditions are giving rise to reports of bear activity and conflict. Colorado Parks and Wildlife reported a 68 percent increase in bear reports over last year for the first seven months of 2026. “Bears are tough this year,” said Brad Banulis, the agency’s senior terrestrial biologist, at a July 28 northwest region sportspersons’ meeting in Grand Junction. While conflicts slowly increased in early summer, Banulis said things had not been “too bad” until recently. “Now we’re definitely seeing conflicts go up a lot across the region, really across the Western Slope at least, maybe even statewide, with this drought,” he said. Kris Middledorf, Parks and Wildlife’s area wildlife manager, said the situation has been escalating in Routt County as it experiences an “unprecedented surge in human-bear interactions.” Reports to Parks and Wildlife from Jan. 1 to July 31 were up 219 percent over 2025 in the county.
Bear activity also increased in the surrounding communities including Yampa, Oak Creek, Clark and Stagecoach. Activity has also risen in Pitkin and Garfield counties, by nearly 32 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Pitkin has seen a large spike, 56 percent, in reports involving property damage. Colorado is home to an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 black bears, the vast majority of which live on the Western Slope. In recent years, population growth, increased tourism and fluctuations in food availability have been driving up conflict with bears, especially in mountain towns. Part of the challenge is that Parks and Wildlife’s options when it comes to habituated bears are limited. They typically have two options: relocation or euthanization. In 2025, the agency relocated 52 bears and killed 78 due to human-wildlife conflicts statewide.
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LAKE DILLON CONTINUES TO DROP, BUT WILL NOT REACH RECORD LOW
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Denver Water reported that Lake Dillon hit its peak this year at 80 percent capacity earlier this summer. On July 31, Denver Water said the reservoir stood at 75 percent capacity. By Labor Day, the reservoir’s water line is expected to drop another 8-10 feet, and by the beginning of next April, the reservoir is projected to be just 50 to 60 percent full. That projection would leave the Dillon Reservoir in a similar state to the 2002-2003 drought, which saw the reservoir drop to 48 percent full. Still, water levels are expected to remain far higher than the 1978 drought, when the reservoir bottomed out at 35 percent capacity. “We’re losing about an inch of water a day, or maybe every 30 hours,” said Dillon Marina Director Craig Simpson at a recent Dillon Town Council meeting. “It’s going down, and without something significant, it’s going to continue to go down.”
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PITKIN COUNTY LOOKS TO TRANSFER SNOWMASS FALLS RANCH TO USFS
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In February 2024, Pitkin County, with funding assistance from Great Outdoors Colorado, and in partnership with The Wilderness Land Trust, purchased the 650-acre Snowmass Falls Ranch for $34 million. The purchase was intended to secure the property by the county for transfer to the U.S. Forest Service for inclusion in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area and now the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Board will recommend that transfer to the Board of County Commissioners. Upon Forest Service acquisition, the transfer would immediately place 530 acres into the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness Area — the largest addition to the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness since 1983. The remaining 120 acres that do not immediately become wilderness will be managed in conformance with adjacent management areas, which is either as dispersed recreation or recommended wilderness areas.
The ranch was privately owned for more than a century before the county bought it. It was carefully stewarded by homesteader Kate Lindvig in the early 20th century, and by the Perry Family since 1943. Through this transaction, Pitkin County would retain the water rights associated with the property and could still help manage the land over the next several years. Open Space and Trails will use the water rights in this transition period, with the county able to explore other uses for the water like dedicating the rights to the protection of minimum streamflows.
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WILL DROUGHT AFFECT THE FALL COLORS THIS YEAR?
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As you head to the high country these days, it might seem that the trees are changing color early. Actually, the yellowish tinge to aspens, cottonwoods and other trees is not the autumn yellow, it is basically the trees shutting down because of the lack of water and due to drought stress and not true seasonal color change, according to Dan West, the entomologist and leaf expert with the Colorado State Forest Service. If the monsoons kick in with additional rain, the "we may get a glimmer of good news and perhaps a better season,” West said. For the time being, he predicted peak colors appearing “a little bit earlier because of that drought stress.”
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U.S. UNEXPECTEDLY LOST JOBS IN JULY, WITH LOWER UNEMPLOYMENT
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The U.S. Dept. of Labor Friday reported the nation lost 23,000 jobs in July, an unexpected contraction, as economists had forecast a gain of 83,000 jobs for the month. The July report follows revisions to May and June payroll numbers that showed the U.S. economy added 103,00 fewer jobs in those months. The unemployment rate fell slightly from 4.2 percent in June to 4.1 percent in July, due largely to more Americans not seeking work and dropping out of the labor market entirely. The only bright spot in the numbers, the construction sector added 22,000 jobs last month, likely due to work on large data centers across the U.S. Manufacturing added 5,000, but leisure and hospitality employers cut 40,000 workers in July, while retailers dropped more than 19,000 employees.
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AMERICA’S LARGEST RESERVOIR HITS ALL-TIME RECORD LOW LEVEL
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The largest reservoir in the U.S., Lake Mead, outside of Las Vegas, dropped to a record-low elevation Aug. 7, hitting 1040.5 feet. Lake Mead provides water and hydroelectricity for tens of millions, and the water level has fallen every day since July 31. Elevation levels in the lake have been tracked since officials first began filling the reservoir in the 1930s. The lake hit its previous modern record-low level of 1,040.58 feet on July 28, 2022, before several wetter winters helped refill it. Lake Powell has fallen about four feet in the past 30 day and now stands at 3,521.43 feet. Federal officials say it probably will hit its lowest ever by early spring, if not sooner.
In 2022, the Southern Nevada Water Authority completed work on a project to ensure it could still pump drinking water from Lake Mead to serve the Las Vegas area when water levels are low. Launched in 2008, the effort includes both a new low-level water intake closer to the lake’s bottom and a pumping station to lift that water back up 500 feet.
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U-HAUL REPORT TAKES NEW LOOK AT ARRIVALS TO, DEPARTURES FROM, COLORADO
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U-Haul took a different approach this year to its annual mid-year report on migration within the U.S. It broke down the data to reflect habits of four age groups:
- Boomers (born 1946-1964)
- Gen X (born 1965-1980)
- Millennials (1981-1996)
- Gen Z (1997-2012, with the qualifier that you must be 18 to rent a U-Haul)
What metros do people move to from Denver? U-Haul broke out data for all metro areas with at least 1 million people. Here are the top three choices for different age groups:
- Boomers: Colorado Springs; Fort Collins-Loveland; Tucson, Arizona
- Gen X: El Paso, Texas; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Salt Lake City, Utah
- Millennials: Cheyenne; El Paso; Minneapolis
- Gen Z: Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago
Where are people moving to Colorado from?
- Colorado was the top choice of a dozen groups defined by age and market of origin in the study, including all age groups leaving Austin, Texas
- It was actually the top choice of other groups leaving Texas as well, including Houston millennials and Gen Z and San Antonio boomers and millennials
- Colorado was the top draw for Kansas City, Missouri, boomers and Gen Z from Omaha, Nebraska. It was also the top choice for Gen Z adults from Fresno, California, and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida
- In all, Colorado was among the top five destinations for more than 60 groups defined by age and origin in the study
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MARKET UPDATE - 08/07/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 08/06/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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